


Blue

by CaramelKruze



Category: Dream SMP - Fandom, Minecraft (Video Game)
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Ghost Wilbur Soot, Ghostbur, Hurt/Comfort, I'm honestly not sure what other tags I should put, Sleepy Bois Inc as Family, Wilbur Soot and Technoblade and TommyInnit are Siblings, i guess?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-05
Updated: 2021-03-05
Packaged: 2021-03-16 23:00:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,490
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29832207
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CaramelKruze/pseuds/CaramelKruze
Summary: If blue hadn’t already been one of his favourite colours, these flowers could have convinced him right then. He plucked one from the ground and held the delicate petals between his fingers. That was when he noticed how pale he was. Not just pale either, but he swore he could almost see through his hand completely.Oh.
Relationships: Wilbur Soot & Technoblade & TommyInnit & Phil Watson
Kudos: 27





	Blue

When Wilbur opened his eyes, he was confused, to say the least. He wasn’t sure where he was, and even more confused about how he got there. 

Sunlight filtered through the canopy of leaves above and it gave the forest Wilbur had found himself in a very welcoming glow. Looking around, he could see that surrounding him where he sat on the soft earth, was a patch of blue orchids. The vibrant blue of the petals almost emanating an ethereal glow. If blue hadn’t already been one of his favourite colours, these flowers could have convinced him right then. He plucked one from the ground and held the delicate petals between his fingers. That was when he noticed how pale he was. Not just pale either, but he swore he could almost see through his hand completely. 

_ Oh.  _

Suddenly, Wilbur could hear distant explosions. Could hear his own voice ringing in his ears, begging someone to kill him. The fact that his heart wasn’t pounding at the moment only made him panic even more.  _ He was dead _ . His chest heaved as he took staggering breaths that he no longer needed. If he was dead why did his chest feel so tight?  _ Could ghosts cry? Was he even a ghost? Where was he? _

It was the sight of the blue flower in his hand that brought him out of the frenzy he had fallen into. The petals had been mostly crushed when Wilbur unknowingly clenched his fists, and they left a bright blue dye on his palm. Wilbur focused on that. 

If he was dead then it didn’t matter. What happened before didn’t matter, and he didn’t need to think about it. He didn’t want to think about it. He  _ wouldn’t  _ think about it. If he told himself that he didn’t remember it, then maybe eventually that would be a reality. He could remember the good things. The good things like… like Philza taking him flying when he was younger, or when Techno had gone with him to a meadow near their home and had told him what each flower was and what they meant, or even when he taught Tommy how to craft little boats out of paper. Those small happy moments would be what he remembered. He would remember Fundy and how excited he was that one time they visited the beach looking for shells. He would remember L’manberg; the good times he had there, what it was before… 

As he stared at his blue-stained hands, he felt himself smile again. 

He slowly got to his feet after gathering a few more handfuls of those bright blue orchids. He wasn’t sure where he was exactly, but he figured that if he wondered for a while he could find something, and if not, maybe more flowers like these ones. He always regretted not taking the time to appreciate the small beauties of nature, and he figured that now was as good of a time as any to start. 

* * *

Wilbur quickly realized a lot of things as he walked constantly. One, he couldn’t touch water. That wasn’t too big of a deal, but it did make travelling a bit more of a pain in the incorporeal ass. Two, he was still ‘home’. He had started to recognize much of the land from his travels from when he was alive, which made it very easy to eventually find L’manberg as well. It had taken about two weeks, or at least Wilbur thought it was two weeks; time was such a strange concept when you were dead. It looked so much different than how he had left it. It was a city on stilts now, and while he didn’t know what had happened to force them to rebuild the city as such, they had done a wonderful job. 

When he finally made it to the city it was dark. Wilbur was thankful to have found it just after sunset because despite not being a physical entity, mobs still had the tendency to flock to him. He figured it must have had something to do with being undead because they would never try to hurt him, but he hated it nonetheless. 

There were now lanterns that hung over the city and cast soft golden streaks of light over the wooden boardwalks that had been built into the walls of the small crater that had formed since Wilbur was gone. It was beautiful. 

He ended up at the docks, the nearly serene water reflecting the light from the lanterns and the moon. The sky was so clear that Wilbur swore he could see each and every star in the sky. Techno loved the stars, Wilbur remembered, often staying out well into the night to stare at them and take in each constellation. 

The rest of the city was quiet, as was the norm at this time of night. Wilbur sat at the edge of the dock until the sun made its appearance over the horizon, the stars slowly fading away into the lilac sky. 

The city came alive then; people made their way out of their houses, greeting each other as they did so. The smell of freshly baked bread began to fill the air, and the small market filled with people talking and laughing. Wilbur recognized a lot of them, many of them his friends once. Would they be happy to see him?  _ Could _ they see him?

His answer came shortly when he passed by Niki, who paid him absolutely no attention. It was like he wasn’t there at all, and to her, that was completely the case. Wilbur felt his heart sink for a moment and he instinctively rubbed a small blue petal between his fingers, coating his hand in a fresh coat of bright blue. 

He had picked up the habit shortly after he woke up in that forest. He started to associate the blue that stained his hands with happy things, happy memories, anything that could make him forget what Wilbur had done when he was alive. He wasn’t  _ that _ Wilbur anymore, that Wilbur was dead and gone. His hands were almost always blue now, stained from the constant crushing of blue petals along with the fact that Wilbur couldn’t actually wash his hands given his reaction to water. He liked it that way anyways though, so he didn’t mind. 

“Niki?” Wilbur said quietly, not actually expecting an answer or acknowledgment. 

Niki’s face went pale and she quickly turned around like she was looking for something. When she didn’t see anything, she let out a heavy breath and shook her head sadly. That gave Wilbur enough hope to think that there was a possibility that people could still interact with him. Obviously, Niki had heard him, at least a little bit. 

He made his way back up to the house he had seen last night. 

It was a tall house, two stories tall with a balcony. It looked incredibly cozy, and Wilbur had found himself drawn to it before he even knew who lived within. 

Just beside the solid oak door, was a plaque that read “Philza M.” Wilbur grabbed the handle and turned it. It wasn’t locked, and he made his way into the house quietly. There was a chance that Philza wasn’t here, but it was worth a shot. 

Wilbur could hear humming coming from the kitchen, and if he had a heart that beat he knows it would have absolutely swelled at the sound. He couldn’t stop the smile from spreading on his face as he made his way closer and closer to the small kitchen. 

Philza had his back to him, he was stirring something in a mug on the counter. Staring at his back, Wilbur noticed that something about him had changed, something big, but his mind quickly pushed the thought away. 

“Phil?” 

Wilbur heard the spoon Phil had been holding clink as he dropped it into the mug completely. His shoulders tensed, and he could see him start to slowly shake his head and breath heavily. Wilbur hadn’t seen Phil cry often, many of the memories of when he did had faded as he chose happier ones to replace them. Phil took a steadying breath and slowly turned around, eyes closed, unsure of what he wanted to see when he would open them. 

Wilbur smiled at him as he opened his teary eyes. Unlike when Niki had turned towards him, Phil didn’t look past him. Phil could see him. 

“Wil,” Phil said through a sob. This had to be some cruel phantom brought on by guilt, he thought as Wilbur moved closer to him. Phil didn’t move, worried that if he did Wilbur would vanish in a second. “Wil, I’m so sorry,” he choked out. His hands wouldn’t stop shaking. 

“Don’t be sorry, don’t cry, here, have some blue,” Wilbur said as he gently grabbed Phil’s hand and placed one of the many small blue flowers he collected. His fingertips left a trail of blue along Phil’s palm. 

Suddenly, Wilbur felt Phil’s arms wrap around him, and he was pulled into a tight hug. Philza’s shoulders still shaking as he sobbed into his son's shoulder. It didn’t matter if this was real anymore, if it meant that Phil got another chance to hug his son, then he would gladly take it. Wilbur understood why Phil would be sad, if Wil was still here then why be sad? Regardless, he waited for Phil to stop crying and finally let him go. 

“Why are you here, Wil?” Phil sounded so exhausted and it confused Wilbur for a moment. 

“To visit you. I woke up in a forest a few weeks ago and now I’m back.” Wilbur was smiling, but it fell slightly when he realized that Phil was not doing the same. “Why do you ask? Did you not want to see me again?” 

“No! No, it's not that, it's just…” Phil sighed, looking back at the flower Wilbur had given him. “You’re dead. You’re dead but you’re here now, and… Wilbur, you did some awful things before you-… before I-… you know…” Phil’s hands were still shaking a little. 

Wilbur’s smile fell completely and his stomach dropped. He didn’t know what Phil had meant by that. “What? Phil, don’t be silly. I haven’t done anything, I’ve only just got here.” Wilbur had started wandering around the small kitchen, looking at the flowers that grew outside the kitchen window and the collection of small trinkets that littered the bookshelf. 

Phil stared at him, expression unreadable. He looked at Wilbur’s hands which had begun to nervously pull at more blue petals again. “Wilbur… What do you remember from when you were alive? Do you remember anything?” Phil wasn’t sure how ready he was to simply forget what Wilbur had done, but if even he didn’t remember it, then it made the whole thing so much more difficult. He was his son, yes, but he had also blown up an entire city. He had betrayed all of his friends. He had hurt so many people. Wilbur turned back to Phil again, and he looked so happy that Phil felt bad for him. 

“I remember a lot of things! I remember you, Tommy, Techno, and all the others, building L’manberg... Phil, why do you look upset?” Wilbur stopped talking and looked away again. He was staring at his hands, freshly stained blue. He didn’t want to look at Philza. He didn’t like how his expression made him feel guilty for some reason he didn’t understand. 

“Wilbur… Wilbur, you hurt a lot of people, Wil, me included. Wilbur, I had to kill you, I was the one that had to kill you Wil. You don’t remember any of that? You don’t remember blowing up L’manberg? You don’t remember betraying everyone? You destroyed everything. Tommy-” 

“Stop! Stop, please!” Wilbur shouted. A heavy silence grew between the two of them, the kitchen quickly growing far less welcoming than it had been mere minutes ago. “That wasn’t me, Phil. That wasn’t me, that was alive Wilbur. Alive Wilbur did those things, Phil, not me. I would never hurt anyone. I would never hurt you, or Techno, or Tommy, anyone!” Wilbur hated being upset. Hated the way his chest would tighten and the way his lungs felt like they couldn’t get enough of the air that he didn’t even need anymore. He just wanted to be happy. He wanted to exist now without the burden of that past Wilbur’s mistakes. He could feel tears starting to fall down his face, and quickly rubbed them away. He forced himself to smile. “Phil, I am not Wilbur; or at least I’m not  _ that _ Wilbur. Please, just… I know that Alivebur did some horrible things, I know you might be mad or upset with him, but please don’t hate me because of him. Please, Phil.” Wilbur did his best to keep his voice steady as he spoke, looking back up at Phil when he finished. 

Phil didn’t say anything for a while, and Wilbur was almost worried that he was going to tell him to leave. Would tell him that he never wanted to see him again or that he never should have come back here in the first place. But that wasn’t like Phil to do that. 

Phil couldn't bring himself to be upset with Wilbur. In the end, Wilbur was right. While he should take responsibility for what had happened, he couldn’t change anything. It wasn’t like making Wil feel bad was going to bring him back or change what he had happened. Phil had never liked seeing his sons cry, and seeing Wilbur cry because of him now was enough to make Philza never want to bring up ‘Alivebur’ again. 

“I don’t hate you, Wil. I could never hate you.” Phil walked past him towards the small kitchen table and grabbed his coat that hung on the back of a chair, putting it on. “How about I show you around L’manberg now, you can see all of the new additions to it since you’ve been gone.” 

“I would like that.” Wilbur smiled again, the memory of the argument he had just had quickly fading away to be replaced with the happier one of finding Phil again. “Thank you, Phil.” 

As the two of them left the house, Wilbur felt at ease again. Hopefully, he would be able to find more people who could actually see him, and even if he couldn’t he could always find other ways to talk to them. For now, he would wander around the new L’manberg, and make new, happier memories. He had moved past the things that Alivebur had done, and now he would only be worried about what Ghostbur would do. 

And when Philza started noticing the bright blue handprints and flower petals that began to show up all around the city, he couldn’t help but smile each time. 

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted to publish this one separately as well as in my other fic "Family" just because of how long this one is. 
> 
> Thanks for reading, and I hope you liked it :]  
> Find me on twitter @CaramelKruze


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